Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuelan grassroots and Palestine solidarity organizations have condemned the Venezuelan government’s controversial decision to initiate consular ties with the Zionist entity of “Israel,” warning that the measure contradicts the Bolivarian Revolution’s historic anti-imperialist principles and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The latest condemnations from the Brigada 13 de Abril and the Venezuelan Movement in Solidarity with Palestine Al Awda add to an earlier condemnation by the Canaan Palestinian People’s Relief Association, which described the rapprochement as a painful blow to the Bolivarian revolutionary struggle.
The Brigada 13 de Abril declared its firm, categorical, and irrevocable opposition to any attempt to resume diplomatic, consular, or commercial relations with the Zionist regime. Echoing Canaan’s warning that Venezuela needs genuine assistance rather than the penetration of Zionism under the guise of “support,” the Chavista organization argued that alleged technical aid or political pragmatism cannot justify rehabilitating an entity responsible for genocide, apartheid, and crimes against humanity in Palestine.
The Venezuelan Movement in Solidarity with Palestine Al Awda issued a separate communiqué repudiating any normalization process. The solidarity organization stressed that establishing relations while the Palestinian people remain subjected to siege, forced starvation, occupation, and genocide “is not diplomacy; it is impunity.” It also demanded that the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry maintain a foreign policy consistent with universal justice and human rights.
A rupture born of solidarity with Palestine
Venezuela severed diplomatic relations with “Israel” in January 2009, during the government of Commander Hugo Chávez, in response to the Zionist regime’s devastating military offensive against the Gaza Strip. The rupture became an emblematic component of the Chavista foreign policy and its commitment to anti-colonial struggles, Palestinian liberation, and the defense of peoples subjected to imperialist aggression.
The new consular opening follows the Venezuelan government’s decision to accept a delegation from the Zionist entity, presented as a technical and humanitarian mission, after the catastrophic double earthquake of June 24.
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry subsequently announced that the two sides had agreed to continue earthquake-related technical cooperation and establish a mechanism to provide consular services to their respective citizens. Although the agreement does not formally restore full diplomatic relations, critics consider it a preliminary institutional step toward normalization.
Normalization amid genocide
This rapprochement is taking place while the Zionist entity of”Israel” faces genocide accusations before the International Court of Justice and continues its occupation, siege, and systematic attacks against the Palestinian people.
The Venezuelan organizations rejected the use of humanitarian assistance and “cooperation” rhetoric to conceal the nature of a settler-colonial entity sustained by US imperialism and accused of using hunger, displacement, and collective punishment as weapons for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
Both statements frame their opposition as a defense of the revolutionary process rather than a retreat from it. They call upon Chavista organizations, militant youth, student movements, popular collectives, and communal forces to remain mobilized and demand consistency between Venezuela’s internationalist discourse and its foreign policy.
For these organizations, accepting emergency assistance cannot become a pretext for rehabilitating Zionism, abandoning Palestine, or shaking hands with a regime whose hands remain stained with Palestinian blood.
The Canaan Palestinian People’s Relief Association had already articulated a similarly severe rejection in an August 7 statement, declaring that “Venezuela needs help, not the genocidal Nazi-Zionist colonialists of the fraudulently named ‘Israel.’”
Canaan denounced the exploitation of the Venezuelan people’s suffering to rehabilitate Zionism as “appallingly sadistic” and described the rapprochement as “a stab in the back to all humanism” and “a searing blow to the Bolivarian revolutionary struggle.” The organization warned that Zionist penetration cannot be separated from US imperial strategy and called upon Venezuela to preserve unity while refusing any reopening of relations with the settler-colonial entity.
Unofficial translation of the Brigada 13 de Abril statement:
Official statement | Brigada 13 de Abril
*Dignity and anti-imperialism are not negotiable! No to the restoration of relations with the state of “Israel”*For public dissemination and popular mobilization:
From the trenches of struggle of the Brigada 13 de Abril, we raise our voices in firm, categorical, and irrevocable opposition to any proposal or attempt to resume diplomatic, consular, or commercial relations between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the genocidal state of “Israel.”
As heirs to the heroic feat of April 13, when the organized people saved the sovereignty of the Homeland, we cannot remain silent in the face of actions that undermine the Revolution’s historic internationalist solidarity.
We state our position
Principles above political expediency!
No alleged “technical assistance” or political pragmatism can justify whitewashing a Zionist regime that carries out systematic genocide, atrocious apartheid, and crimes against humanity against the heroic people of Palestine.
Anti-imperialist consistency!
Venezuelan foreign policy has been forged under the banner of justice and the cause of the world’s oppressed. Normalizing relations with “Israel” betrays the memory of thousands of children, women, and men massacred in the Middle East in the service of imperialist interests.
The legacy of April 13 must be respected!
Loyalty is not an abstract discourse: it is demonstrated through everyday practice and the categorical refusal to shake hands stained with innocent blood.
We demand and call for:
1. The immediate suspension of every negotiation or rapprochement channel intended to restore bilateral ties with the Zionist regime.
2. Historical consistency in maintaining intact the rupture of relations ordered by the Revolution in defense of life and international law.
3. Permanent mobilization and vigilance by militant youth, popular collectives, the student movement, and popular power to defend anti-imperialist dignity in the streets and every other space.
“Solidarity is the tenderness of peoples and firmness in confronting oppressors!”
Long live free Palestine!
Down with Zionism and imperialism!
With the people and their principles, not one step back!
Brigada 13 de Abril
Venezuela Moves Toward Renewed Ties With ‘Israel’ Amid Chavista Criticism
Unofficial translation of the Venezuelan Movement in Solidarity with Palestine Al Awda statement:
Urgent statement
Rejection of normalization with the genocidal state of “Israel”
From the Venezuelan Movement in Solidarity with Palestine Al Awda, we categorically and unequivocally reject any attempt to restore diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the state of “Israel.”
Normalizing relations at this moment is not diplomacy; it is impunity. We cannot shake hands with those responsible for maintaining the blockade, forced starvation, and genocide against the Palestinian people for decades, intensified during the past three years in Gaza.
“Israel” faces genocide accusations before the International Court of Justice and systematically violates United Nations measures.
By blocking the passage of food, water, and medicine to millions of civilians, it violates the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute.
We reject the use of rhetoric and “cooperation” to conceal barbarism and apartheid. Diplomacy cannot be used to whitewash crimes against humanity.
We demand that the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry maintain a firm, ethical foreign policy consistent with universal justice and human rights.
Silence makes us complicit!
Stop the genocide and end the occupation!
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/AU
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